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Alien Aliens

Arpy

Arpy

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Trek relies too heavily on human-like aliens, whether in their appearance or behavior. I still like to think that most of the intelligent aliens in the galaxy are in fact alien lol

Some examples include:

The Sheliak — great aliens. Different sensibility.

I like to think the precise “punctual” Tholians are similar and don’t think or feel or communicate like us among their crystalline selves.

The “If Wishes Were Horses” aliens that didn’t understand imaginations. Imagine how many others they must have come across and never met anyone with imaginations!

Nagilum didn’t understand concept of death. Was everyone else in his part of space immortal, or his alternate dimension?

The Prophets didn’t understand the concept of time. Are there others like them in the wormhole? Is the wormhole a conduit through another timeless plane of existence with similar beings?

Even some humanoids were out there. The Iyaarans (from TNG’s s7 episode “Liaisons”) didn’t understand pleasure, love, or antagonism, and were pod-people born fully formed.

The Husnok (from TNG’s “The Survivors”) that were described as beings of hideous intelligence who knew only aggression and destruction.

Plus all the intelligent beings who the Talosians had in their zoo. (We saw at least two others, a red ape-like alien and a tall bird man-like alien.) Kind of eerie that so many others didn’t mind captivity as long as it was comfortable.
 
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Greg Cox said:
The Horta was a memorably "alien" alien back in the day. As was the gaseous Companion in "Metamorphosis."
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The Horta was very alien in appearance but behaved relatively human. It could have been alien psychologically but did that come through in the episode? The Companion fell in love with a human. Internally, it’s unclear how alien it was.

An early thought I had were the gaseous or energy based Calamarain from TNG’s “Deja Q,” but again they behaved pretty human.
 
I was going to mention the Horta myself.

DD gave us a Horta crewmember, Naraht, in her novels. And there was a short story in the "Speculations" section of one of the original Strange New Worlds anthologies, in which the Hortas agreed to be moved to the Guardian Planet, to serve as security.
 
I actually thought DISCO’s 10-C were by far one of the more alien aliens, as was the, uh, gloopy white alien mass from the ENT episode whose title currently escapes me. Likewise TNG’s Crystal Entity. All three escaped the usual Trek thing of having essentially human motivations and viewpoints, whatever their biology.

Maybe a good measure of a really alien alien is to ask: Could this conscious, intelligent being believably serve as a starship officer or interact within a psychologically humanoid crew someday, if we stuck a translator on it? If not, that’s an alien.

(Spocko, who’s definitely not an alien: “Now that’s an alien!”)
 
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Arpy said:
The Horta was very alien in appearance but behaved relatively human. It could have been alien psychologically but did that come through in the episode? The Companion fell in love with a human. Internally, it’s unclear how alien it was.

An early thought I had were the gaseous or energy based Calamarain from TNG’s “Deja Q,” but again they behaved pretty human.
Click to expand...

Calamarain, count to 4...
 
Another more alien alien species are the R'ongovians from SNW. I don't remember if it was a cultural trait or a biological one, but their personalities changed to match those of each species they encountered. What an interesting adaptation and way to interact with other people, to look at (and thereby understand) the universe around them. It would be interesting to look at R'ongovians more closely, maybe like Dax with Trill psychology on DS9, in different ways in different episodes over time. It wouldn't need to be a series regular, and they could be the focus of, or villains in, or even incidental characters in future episodes, there only as long as necessary to explore something new about them.

The same for any number of these beings, really. The precise Tholians or Sheliak could be completely heartless in one way but exceptionally dependable and true in others, including in ways that hurt them yet are necessary to fulfill their agreements.
 
Arpy said:
The Horta was very alien in appearance but behaved relatively human. It could have been alien psychologically but did that come through in the episode? The Companion fell in love with a human. Internally, it’s unclear how alien it was.

An early thought I had were the gaseous or energy based Calamarain from TNG’s “Deja Q,” but again they behaved pretty human.
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The Horta was protecting her children... that is definitely NOT a solely human trait. Even animals protect their young. I'd argue that's one of the most fundamental and basic traits of life, intelligent or otherwise.

And can we really say the Calamarain were behaving relatively human? They were after Q because he tormented them in the past. I don't think any intelligent lifeform would be just fine with being tormented and toyed with. They saw he was mortal and vulnerable and wanted to get back at him. Can't really call that a human only trait.

"Microbrain" from "Home Soil" was another nice "alien" alien. And it had legitimate beef with the terraforners... they were about to kill them all by starving them. (Without totally realizing it, but they were still on the verge of it.)


FredH said:
I actually thought DISCO’s 10-C were by far one of the more alien aliens, as was the, uh, gloopy white alien mass from the ENT episode whose title currently escapes me. Likewise TNG’s Crystal Entity. All three escaped the usual Trek thing of having essentially human motivations and viewpoints, whatever their biology.

Maybe a good measure of a really alien alien is to ask: Could this conscious, intelligent being believably serve as a starship officer or interact within a psychologically humanoid crew someday, if we stuck a translator on it? If not, that’s an alien.

(Spocko, who’s definitely not an alien: “Now that’s an alien!”)
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The 'gloopy white alien mass' is from "VOX SOLA". Wonderful episode.

I also agree that Species 10-C might qualify as the most 'alien' alien.

I also have to be a bit fair to the previous eras... there was only so much they could do to make truly 'alien' aliens. Technology, effects, makeup, etc. have advanced considerably in the last 20 years, let alone since TOS premiered.

(To give it the credit they are due, TOS did play with more nonhumanoid aliens than most other shows.)


There were also others that we never really got to fully understand...

The twisting phenomenon in VOY's "TWISTED"
The nebula entity in "THE CLOUD"
Another nebula entity in "THE HAUNTING OF DECK TWELVE"
The space dwellers in TNG's "Galaxy's Child"
VOY's "ELOGIUM" had another space dweller
The vortex in TNG's "Time Squared"
The giant creature in VOY's "BLISS"
 
Having rewatched TOS' "The Empath," I think Gem's species and maybe the Vians themselves may be unusually alien aliens of the kind we're talking about in this thread.

Gem's people are strange in multiple ways:

1) Though they look human, they have no natural vocal cords or make any sounds.

2) They have a remarkable "empathic" ability to take on both the physical trauma and emotional traits of others. They can choose to let the trauma go (healing the other as they take it on themselves), and they can let the emotional traits stay and become fundamental to who they are.

3) They lack compassion. Gem learns it from Kirk & Co. and adds it to her being. This is the key characteristic that the test in the episode is about. It suggests a self-centered or atomistic species in its natural state. Earlier in the episode it's suggested that she also learned a "will to survive," "a love of life," and "a passion to know" from them as well. These learned traits have to be overrided by the compassion for others she learns at last for her people to prove worthy of saving by the Vians. What a very alien alien species her people are, especially for humanoids as we've known them, if they're such blank slates, getting by in life through their "empathic" abilities.


The Vians are unusual in that they're unusually moral (being willing to sacrifice their entire people for another's) but but they have to be reminded of their ancient capacity to feel the emotions they brought Gem there to experience. Kirk says that they, "...don't understand what it is to live. Love and compassion are dead in you. You're nothing but intellect."
 
How about Kollos-in-the-Box from "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" The Medusans seem to be pure energy beings, although that's never explicitly stated. According to Kirk's opening voiceover: "They have evolved into a race of beings who are formless, so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan brings total madness to any human who sees one." I always assumed that Medusans emit some sort of radiation that messes with human brainwaves and the whole "ugliness" thing was a romanticized myth, drawing on Medusa from Greek mythology.
FredH said:
Maybe a good measure of a really alien alien is to ask: Could this conscious, intelligent being believably serve as a starship officer or interact within a psychologically humanoid crew someday, if we stuck a translator on it? If not, that’s an alien.
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Well, they did mention the possibility of employing Medusan navigators on starships. Seems a long shot if you ask me.
 
Zero, the Medusan on PRPDIGY, is my favorite character of that show.

In fact, an episode that centers on him is one of the two absolute best episodes of the entire Kurtzman era.
 
Farscape One said:
Zero, the Medusan on PRPDIGY, is my favorite character of that show.

In fact, an episode that centers on him is one of the two absolute best episodes of the entire Kurtzman era.
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Taps microphone. Ahem, what do you think are the two best episodes of the Kurtzman era?
 
That’s an interesting thought experiment, maybe for another thread. “What are your 2 (maybe 5) top episodes of the Kurtzman era?”

PIC s3e9 has to be one of them for me.

I’d have to rewatch it but I also loved the SNW Talosian episode —for multiple reasons, not just the clip of TOS.

I’d probably have to put a PRO on there. What a surprise that series was…

SNW s1e1 might be on there for me, too.
 
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